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Maximillian Coleridge (Earth-616)
, , , | Relatives = Julia Coleridge (mother, deceased); Quincy Coleridge (father, deceased) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = New York City, New York; previously Los Angeles, California | Gender = Male | Height = 6'2" | Weight = 220 lbs | Eyes = Pale Blue | Hair = Reddish-blond | UnusualFeatures = Kali-shaped scar covering most of his face. | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Currently running family business; adventurer, vigilante, previously crimelord | Education = BS in law and criminology | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = Manhattan, New York City | Creators = Steve Englehart; Herb Trimpe | First = Super-Villain Team-Up #5 | HistoryText = Early Life Max Coleridge was only ten when his parents were gunned down right before his eyes. He decided to dedicate his life to fighting crime. He received a Bachelor of Science in Law at college. Cult of Kali Upon graduation from college, he joined the mysterious temple called the "Cult of Kali", where he studied various styles of martial arts. After seven years of intense training, he graduated from that temple. During the celebration ceremony, he was branded with the "Kiss of Kali," a red-hot iron. Following a period of intense pain and hospitalization, he realized that his eyesight had been replaced by a mystic extrasensory perception. Shroud Traveling back to America, he adopted the identity of the Shroud. The Shroud spied on the Fantastic Four. He followed them to Latveria when Dr. Doom battled Namor. Shroud wanted to kill Doom for his crimes against humanity, but he failed in his mission. Namor and the Shroud tried to escape the country. They were captured by a Doombot, who revealed itself to be Prince Rudolfo, the former heir to the throne. He came close to it when Doom had teamed-up with the Red Skull. The two villains were too strong for Shroud to handle alone. He was shot by a ray built by the villains, which sent Shroud into outer space. He was rescued by Captain America, who brought Shroud back to Earth; but because of his time in space, Shroud became insane and it took him quite a while to recover. Vigilante While on his mission to fight crime, he battled Crooked Man. He also helped Spider-Man and Werewolf by Night battle Dansen Macabre and Tatterdemalion. Locksmith He was kidnapped and imprisoned by the Locksmith along with Tigra, the Werewolf (by Night), Poltergeist, Angar the Screamer, Daddy Longlegs, Dansen Macabre, Gypsy Moth, Hangman, Killer Shrike, Needle, Nekra, Flying Tiger, and Tatterdemalion. They were all rescued by Spider-Woman. West Coast Avengers The Shroud helped Spider-Woman when she was trapped in a coma. She later asked Shroud to keep an eye on Tigra when she joined the West Coast Avengers. He also helped the Avengers battle the Masters of Evil. Night Shift After his recovery, Shroud discovered that he was able to tap into the Darkforce Dimension. He went undercover in Los Angeles and built a reputation as a criminal so he could destroy their world from within. This led him to create the group known as the Night Shift. Behind the scenes, Shroud made a deal with the West Coast Avengers not to interfere with his activities underground, but during a battle, Shroud went missing and the Night Shift battled the Avengers, causing a strain between the groups. The team went up against Moon Knight, and working with Hawkeye they fought against Speedo and Zipper. Shroud left the Night Shift and went back to his solo work. Solo Adventures Shroud fought Firefly, a criminal named Manny, and the Deacon. He teamed up with the New Warriors. Spider-Man and Shroud went up against the Screaming Masks of Cyttorak. Teaming up with allies Cat and Mouse, they fought crime through New York. He also stopped a pair of muggers. Civil War During the Superhero Civil War, Shroud was opposed to the Superhero Registration Act and fought it openly against S.H.I.E.L.D.. With his new lover, Arachne, the same Spider-Woman who had saved him from Locksmith, he had plans to fight the act. Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. proved to be too good at their job and tracked Shroud and discovered Arachne's double-cross. Despite Shroud asking Julia to not risk herself for her daughter, they both went on the run. Eventually, Shroud was captured. He was freed when the anti-registration forces stormed the prison, and was present at the final battle between the two factions. Shadowland Shroud resurfaced in the midst of Shadowland; when Daredevil ordered ninja clan The Hand to dispense justice on New York's streets. When the bodies of mobsters and suspected child-pornographers were discovered brutally murdered baring the Hand insignia, Shroud investigated the deaths as strange and vicious beyond that which Daredevil would decree. Alongside private investigator Misty Knight, mercenary-for-hire Paladin, and Symkarian bounty hunter Silver Sable, Shroud determined that the murders were in fact committed by furious, embittered policemen posing as Hand ninja. It was presumed that Shroud continued to aid the other New-York based superheroes in the redemption of Hell's Kitchen from Shadowland. Heroes for Hire In the wake of Shadowland, Misty reformed Heroes For Hire, this time taking a withdrawn role and directing other heroes. After being kidnapped and held prisoner by Puppet Master, Shroud was forced to act as a liaison for a new, loose-knit Heroes for Hire. They fought the Worthy, as well as Purple Man in the Raft. Returning to San Francisco Having returned to San Francisco, Maximillian fell into a depressive state and let himself go. His aggressive vigilantism and uncooperative behavior made him an annoyance for the commissioner of police. While acting on a death wish, the Shroud started building a reputation as a criminal as part of a plan to target San Francisco's kingpin, the Owl, kidnapping capos and burning marks on their top lieutenants. When Daredevil returned to San Francisco, having made his identity public, the Shroud became jealous of him. As part of his plan to establish himself as a credible threat in the city to attract the Owl's attention and earn an audience with him, Max lured Daredevil to a trap and tried to take him down. After subduing the Shroud, Daredevil convinced him to follow a different plan to personally confront the Owl. However, when the two vigilantes had the Owl cornered, the crime lord promised to help Max reunite with his ex-girlfriend Julia. The Shroud escaped with the Owl, and the crime boss manipulated Max into helping him gain access to a cutting-edge piece of technology from a fiber optics company that delivered data directly into a person's brain, turning them virtually omniscient. Daredevil intercepted both of them, but not before the Owl entered in contact with this device. After leaving the Owl to the police, Daredevil tried to talk some sense into the Shroud, but to no avail. In order to find Julia, the Shroud abducted the Owl from prison and used him inhumanly as the heart of a surveillance supercomputer he set up in Alcatraz. When Daredevil and the Owl's daughter Jubula Pride found him, the Shroud broadcasted malefic footage of Daredevil's personal and professional life to prevent further interference. Later, the Shroud managed to find Julia aboard a plane about to layover in San Francisco, and stopped her at the airport, but Daredevil intervened. The appearance of Jubula Pride resulted in a scuffle during which Julia was kidnapped by henchmen sent by the Kingpin, who intended to use her as leverage to put Max under his thumb. After learning of Julia's location from one of Fisk's goons, the Shroud interrupted a deathmatch between Daredevil and the Kingpin's assassin Ikari. The Shroud killed Ikari, unwittingly dooming one of Matt's loved ones, since Kingpin had also captured Kirsten McDuffie and Foggy Nelson, and planned to kill either of them if Daredevil beat Ikari. While Daredevil impersonated Ikari to meet up with Kingpin and stall for time, the Shroud returned to the Owl and used the surveillance system to reveal all of Fisk's illicit operations. After the Kingpin's fall, the Shroud liberated the Owl. Later, Daredevil and Julia set up a trap to capture Max. On the pretense that she wanted to reconcile with him, Julia met with Max and kissed him. However, she had covered her lips with a tranquilizer, knocking him out almost instantly so he could be apprehended. Max was subsequently locked up, and Julia put his surveillance system to use in order to investigate New U Technologies. | Powers = Darkforce Projection: The Shroud possesses the mystical ability to summon Darkforce by opening a mystical portal into the Darkforce Dimension and drawing its thick, inky atmosphere in various quantities into Earth's dimension. This darkness is not simply the absence of light, but the negation of it. No illumination can penetrate it. It is unknown how much of this darkness the Shroud can summon at once. He can blanket a small auditorium in darkness within several seconds. The darkness he projects does not fill a volume instantly: it is possible to see its hazy boundary move like thick, black smoke in the air. There appears to be no limit to the length of time the Shroud can maintain the darkness. However, if the Shroud is rendered unconscious the darkness seems to be naturally drawn through the portal from whence it came. The Shroud has control over the darkness so as to create hazy-edged, featureless black shapes with it, the complexity of which is limited only by his imagination. He frequently forms the darkness into his own shadow in order to serve as a decoy. Unlike Darkstar's Darkforce, the darkness possesses no mass, and unlike Cloak, the Shroud is unable to travel into or out of the dimension from which he draws his darkness. Psychic Perception: The Shroud possesses a mystical sense of perception enabling him to "see" even through his own mantle of darkness. This mystical sense gives him psychic impressions of his environment within a radius of about 100 feet of him. Unlike Daredevil, the Shroud can receive non-visual sensory impressions through solid objects. Thus, he can perceive people and objects in the room next to him with the ease that he can perceive the contents of the room he is in. | Abilities = The Shroud is an Olympic level athlete with extensive training in several styles of Asian martial arts, and is adept at acrobatics, infiltration and criminology. | Strength = Intensive Athlete | Weaknesses = Insanity: The Shroud became a suicidal sociopath who tried to take on supervillains with a death wish while fixated on Julia Carpenter. | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = | Trivia = | Marvel = | Wikipedia = | Links = }} Category:Blind Characters Category:Darkforce Category:Superhuman Senses Category:Radar Sense Category:Acrobats Category:Honorary Avengers Category:Martial Arts Category:Magic-Based Mutates Category:Vigilantes